12-4-2015

 Good Morning All!!     

          Mark 7:21; “For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery,”

    Well, we are witnessing it again.  Once again gunmen shoot and kill people who had no idea they were going to be targets.  It is getting hard to remember them all.  Not too long ago it was Sandy Hook, Aurora, Colorado Springs, San Bernardino. We have dozens dead and wounded, millions wondering why, and the talking heads going overtime.  Many offered their comments.  “We send our prayers”  “We send our thoughts and prayers”  “We are praying for the victims and their families.”  These comments were common, like they always are.  Yet there came a pointed response.  A New York City newspaper ran the headline “GOD ISN’T FIXING THIS” and the firestorm has begun.  People are quickly picking sides and offering their two cents.

   The New York newspaper wrote that platitudes were no longer good enough.  Some advocate much stricter gun laws, some want to have tougher immigration policies, some want to arm everyone with a gun.  Everyone has an answer but few will listen to God’s answer.

   Jesus tells us that the true problem exists in the heart of men, a dark place where human life has little value.  Man thinks nothing of the loss of life.  We abort children who are inconvenient.  We fail to care for those whom we have in this world.  We have leaders who quickly and willingly send men and women into war to die and then allow them to wander the streets homeless because they struggle with the carnage they witnessed and caused.  Old people are viewed a burden that just need to go away.  The poor, the oppressed, the marginalized, the mentally ill, the physically handicapped are all seen as only burdens.  Life, one of God’s greatest gifts, is no longer seen as precious, cherished and something we need to hold onto and protect.  When life is cheap, violence becomes more common place.

    The newspaper is right about one thing; platitudes are not enough.  We need penitence and a change of heart.  We need a change of heart and it begins with each of us.  We need to know that this sin, like all sin proceeds from our heart and only a change of our heart will end this, and all other pain and suffering in this world.  Empty thoughts, empty platitudes, empty hearts only serve the devil.

     As we watch the world and all the pain and suffering, we must sadly realize that it will not end until Christ returns.  Until then, we must continue to try and being healing and hope to those who have none.  We do this best by living our lives totally for Christ and we do this by acknowledging our sins, seeking God’s forgiveness and asking His Spirit to enter our hearts that the wicked desires will be driven out.

Father, as we look at the world and see the cold heart of man we ask that you warm our hearts and open our spirit to your love and mercy.  Lead us to know that in this world there will be suffering but that we can bring hope through your grace.  Guide to reach the person that you desire us to have an impact on.  Lead us to be peacemakers.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret          

12-3-2015

        Good Morning All!!     

          Psalm 39:7; “And now, O Lord, for what do I wait?  My hope is in you.”

    It was a gospel genre song that was originally entitled “The Immutable Basis for a Sinner’s Hope.”  Even in 1834, this was not something that many people would grab hold of.  So Pastor Edward Mote changed the name to “My Hope is built on Nothing Less.”  This hymn has gone on to be one of the most beloved hymns written and has had many alternative tunes and settings.  Its popularity has never diminished.  Sinners have hope.  Yet why, where does it come from?

    Hope is a tricky thing.  Too often we speak of hope only in hopeless situation.  When the hometown football team is behind by 020 points and only two minutes to go in the game, we “hope” for a comeback.  It might even be somewhat of a wish as we “hope” like when a child hopes for a pony for Christmas.  Yet this is not true hope.  True hope is built on an expectation; it is an expectation for something good in the future.  It is built on something outside of ourselves.  It is built on the truth of past events which have occurred and point to future events as well.  We see that our hope for the future is based on past events.  Our hope for our faith is based solidly on the promises of God, made to his people and to all mankind; that God has kept through the ages.  We see how God promised a son to Abraham and how he kept that promise.  God promised to deliver the Children of Israel from slavery in Egypt and how he kept that promise using Moses.  We see throughout the Old Testament as God promised to send a Savior, the Messiah, to redeem his people and we see how God sent Jesus to be that Savior.  Because of these kept promises, we can have hope; we can have the expectation that God will keep his promises in the future.

   God has promised us eternal life with him; God has promised to always be with us and that we are now his people.  We can see how God’s past actions have given us the certainty of our hope in his promises of tomorrow and this can now shape our present life.  Because now we have hope and we are a people of hope.  We share in that hope, that certainty of our salvation, along with other people who have this same hope.  We grow and become a community of people who have hope. We fear nothing and we lack nothing; we live with the confidence, the faith, that our future is secure in God’s loving arms.  So we can have peace knowing we are secure in God’s loving arms and we can be joyful in that we are able to live the life that God has given to us with a trusting heart.

    We have hope that God will fulfil his wonderful promise of salvation and life eternal.   We have the comfort of this truth as we face the challenges of today.  Live in his eternal hope for salvation has come and is ours forever.

Father of all hope, in you an in you alone do we have hope.  Lead us to trust in your wonderful love and grace.  Enable us to do your will as we continue on our journey.  Keep us safe in your loving arms.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret       

12-2-2015

Good Morning All!!     

          Isaiah 54:10; ‘“for the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,’ says the Lord, who has compassion on you.”

    There is discussion of the “Cold War” between the United States and Russia may be heating up again.  A little while ago, Turkey shot down a Russian jet.  There were decades of the stand-off with the occasional flare-up and brinkmanship.  Sometimes it was scary like the Cuban missile crisis.  Sometimes it was ridiculous like when Kennedy and Khrushchev engaged in a stare down at a summit meeting.  Supposedly, it all held together because both the United States and the then Soviet Union engaged in a military posture known as mutually assured destruction.  This meant that if either side launched a nuclear attack against the other, enough nuclear bombs would survive and launch a counter attack guaranteeing that each side would be destroyed.  Thus peace was kept because both sides feared total annihilation.  It was always ironic to me that this theory of “peace” was known by the acronym “MAD”- mutually assured destruction.

    That is the problem with manmade peace; it really isn’t.  Manmade peace is usually just a lull in fighting, either to regroup or re-arm.  It is peace if you are afraid of your opponent or the cost of fighting is too high.  None of this is peace.  None of this provides any sense of security.  You could say that during the cold war we had peace.  But we also had attack drills, the emergency broadcast system which practiced “in case of attack”, we were encouraged to have safe houses with plenty of canned food and water and we had fallout shelters; peace, not really.

    In some ways, our verse is like this.  Jerusalem is about to be destroyed.  Yet through it all, God is promising to restore and return Jerusalem.  God is promising to keep his eternal covenant of peace both with the Children of Israel and with you and me.  God’s covenant of peace will not be removed; what a blessing!

    It gets linked to us with the New Covenant of Jer. 31, for its benefits become possible only after the Messiah forgives the sins of God’s people and makes them righteous.  Yet the focus of this covenant is on security. We do not have to fear.  God throws a protective blanket over His people so that they will be safe. While this is an eschatological covenant, it has present application to you and me. God’s protective blanket has been thrown over us as well today in the present age. God the Holy Spirit is Himself “a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession.” Because we are God’s own we are safe and secure.  We can sleep at night and work by day knowing that God has rescued us and will protect us and keep us safe.

Father of all mercies, you give us peace that no one else can.  Through your loving embrace we are kept safe in your arms.  Be with those who do not know of your great and wonderful peace.  Send your Spirit to free them from all harm and danger.  Send them your peace.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

12-1-2015

 Good Morning All!!     

         1 Corinthians 2:5; “so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”

     I was sitting and listening to an older man pour out his heart.  He had lived a life that was a little rougher and a little cruder than most.  He had battled alcohol and drugs, having lost the battle more than he won.  Because of this, he had three broken marriages, a couple of broken relationships, children between four of the women with little contact with some of the children.  It was a case where the children were young at the time, the mother moved across the state and nobody tried to connect.  He found out he was a grandpa from someone else’s Facebook post.  He was trying to reconnect with some of his children who lived closer to him but was not received with open arms.

    As we talked, he kept going back to the phrase that he was unforgivable and he didn’t deserve to be wanted.  After a couple times of this comment, I asked him what was unforgivable.  All he would say was he had done some things in the past that were terrible; “you may know me but you don’t know everything I have done.”  This was and is true but we kept probing.  We looked at the passage in 1 John about God being faithful and forgiving all of our sins (1 John 1:9).  He came back with something about “God can’t forgive me, I’m too bad.”  So I asked him about God, about how great a God we had who created everything we see and everything we don’t see just with a spoken word.  I asked him how powerful and majestic this God must be.  Then I asked him, “Do you really think that your sin is greater than God?”  He went away and said he would have to think about it.  I told him that he was trying to set a fence around a God that knows no limits.  The pain he was feeling was self-inflicted because he was always trying to fence in God.

    We are still talking once in a while.  How about you?  Do you think there is a limit to God’s love?  Do you think your past is so bad that God cannot love you?  Don’t fence God in; it doesn’t work.  You cannot limit God.  Many have tried.  The devil thought he had God right where he wanted him while he was dying on the cross but this proved to be the devil’s undoing.  Don’t fence God in.  Don’t think God cannot or will not love you; nothing is further from the truth.  God’s love for you knows no limits.  He willingly let Jesus die because of his immeasurable love and compassion for you; don’t fence God in.  Let his love free you from your pain.  Let his grace wash over you like a warm shower on a cold night; don’t fence God in.  His love is the power to forgive you all of your sins and claim you as his child.  Don’t fence God in; his love for you never ends.

Father, at times I feel so unworthy of your love.  I feel unlovable.  Send your Spirit to feed me.  Send your Spirit to refresh me and to revitalize in me the certainty of the hope that you so freely give because of Jesus. Keep my eyes focused on you and your amazing mercy.  Hold me in your loving arms.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret